I agree with Mike the so called Fame Committee needs some changes. Why can’t the committee look up the names and look at there overall body of work to determine if they are famous or not? It does not make any sense. I had to look up a few of the names above. Hall Of Fame athletes should be automatic. Authors that have written classics and sold over 50 million copies should be automatic. One of the most wanted terrorist in the world with a 5 million dollar bounty on his head should be automatic. I could go on. I just think some changes are needed change is not always bad.

15 years we’ve been doing this. Let’s keep this simple: you’re wrong. Fame isn’t determined by looking at a body of work and deciding if that person is famous as a result. It’s name recognition. That’s a celebrity. A celebrity isn’t someone that has accomplished a lot. A celebrity is someone who is KNOWN. Try this test: if you are wondering if someone is a celebrity, go to your local supermarket when its busy. Ask everyone in there if they know who that person is, just based on their name. If at least 15% don’t know who they are, they are a NOBODY. Period.

That’s because they were never played. We don’t just sit around all day saying “Hey! What about Goober McDumbass? He was on 3 episodes of Hee Haw in 1972! Isn’t he famous?” Someone has to actually TRY the person, then it goes to the committee. Check out the rule.

Um… I just put in my lists a few hours ago and I just looked at my freebie list again. “Colin Hayes” is supposed to be Colin Hay. I dont know if I typo’ed that or if the Select O Matic changed it.. And “Papa Schnatter” was supposed to be Papa John. I thought the Fame Committee would be more likely to recognize him if I called him Papa John. ..of Papa John’s Pizza fame… But the Select O Matic wouldn’t let me call him Papa John because there’s already a dead Papa John.

I have to agree with a previous post – your Fame Committee needs some maybe more in tune (pun intended) people – I mean some guy named Claudio Abbado is famous but John McVie one of the founding members if Fleetwood Mac isn’t??

“… go to your local supermarket when its busy. Ask everyone in there if they know who that person is, just based on their ‘name. If at least 15% don’t know who they are, they are a NOBODY. Period….
Sorry. that “test” really doesn’t hold water. Jimmy Kimmel (is HE famous?) recently interviewed people on the street and asked them (and received responses) what they thought of President Obama’s (is HE famous?) SOTU speech…SEVERAL HOURS BEFORE IT WAS GIVEN!
And Jay Leno, in one of his “Jay Walking” segments showed pictures of different “celebrities” like Joe Biden and John Boehner (I guess THEY”RE famous) and they couldn’t identify them.
Bottom line is: The American public isn’t smart enough to have a valid opinion.

“… Fame isn’t determined by looking at a body of work and deciding if that person is famous as a result. It’s name recognition. That’s a celebrity. A celebrity isn’t someone that has accomplished a lot. A celebrity is someone who is KNOWN….”

Is that why you accepted Claudio Abbado for the list?

“…Never heard of him? How have you not heard of him? He won the Grand cross of the Légion d’honneur, Bundesverdienstkreuz for chrissakes. Try reading the paper every once in a while. Sheesh….”

How hypocritical is THAT? Your own description says he’s not widely known.

That was from a period of time where we DID try and do it like a bunch of morons. We used AP news postings to decide if they were famous. We learned our lesson. Read ALL of the rules. It’s all in the history.

Ok, all you pissy pant whiners, try this. Name a famous game that doesn’t have any rules. For that matter, name ‘any’ game that doesn’t have rules. …that’s right, rules make it a game, and who makes the rules? The inventor of the game right? Seriously, would you write to Parker Bros. and tell them in “Monopoly”,you think they should offer you probation when you land on “Go To Jail”?… Or perhaps you could e-mail Milton Bradley and suggest they change “Candyland’s” Gumdrop Mountains to M&M Hills because M&M’s are more popular than gumdrops? I hope you see where I’m going with this.
So stop all your fussin’ and go out there and play like nice kids…and if you’re still not happy, perhaps you could invest in, design, and run your own sucessful game where ‘you’ get to make all the rules. How hard could that be?

Kelly et al your cite isn’t worth spit if you call the ‘ask your friends at grocery store if they’re famous’ litmus test.
Just the past three weeks we have had 1) The one time world’s fattest man and 2) the original bassist for Foreigner die. Neither could ever possibly be named by name, but both are most certainly “famous”, one for nostalgia and the other for being in a famous band.
In any case it’s simple: if the NYTimes doesn’t publish the death notice they likely aren’t famous. You want to throw in another source or two that’s fine. You want to let a few slide cuz of their notoriety that’s fine too (I found fat man obit some website). Fame is like pornography: I can’t define it but I know it when I see it.

Ah hell I got Joe Klecko and Mark Gastineau past the Fame Committee one year (no joke… they are both on the Famous List due to my efforts… I think). Still haven’t decided if I’m going to try to get Marty Lyons and Abdul Salaam on there…